The invention relates to the technical field of receptacles for receiving a predefined dose of a liquid.
This type of receptacle can be used in the field of pharmaceuticals, food supplements and cosmetology.
In general, this type of receptacle is in the form of a glass ampoule of which one end is broken in order to collect the liquid. For example, the ampoule has a generally cylindrical shape with two tapered ends. In this case, it is necessary to break both ends to collect the liquid. One of these ends enables the liquid to flow while the other end enables air to enter so as to permit the flow.
Ampoules are also known in the form of fine tipped bottles, which must also be broken to collect the liquid.
This type of receptacle incurs difficulties and risks of injury at the time of the filling of the ampoule and at the time of its use.
For wide neck ampoules, filling is generally carried out with a needle, which is unsuitable for high filling rates, while for fine tipped ampoules, filling generally takes place by vacuum.
The invention relates more particularly to this vacuum filling technique.
In a manner perfectly known to a person skilled in the art, ampoules are packed and arranged in boxes known by the name of cristallisoir. These cristallisoirs, which are generally square, can accommodate 200 to 500 ampoules, according to their capacity. For the filling of the liquid, a machine is used having an open vacuum tank at the top and equipped with a pivoting lid. Combs are fastened to the lid in order to maintain the ampoules after having turned over the cristallisoir with all the ampoules that it contains. In other words, the opened tips of the ampoules, which were initially pointing upwards, point downwards after being overturned, and are immersed in the liquid. It then suffices to create a vacuum in the tank, in order to remove the air contained in the said ampoules. When the vacuum is removed, that is, when the air is allowed to return into the tank, the ampoules draw in the liquid.
At this stage of the filling, it is conceivable that some ends of the ampoules may be broken and fine glass particles may be present in the liquid. In other words, the risk of filling an ampoule with a liquid containing glass fragments cannot be discounted.
The cristallisoir is then turned over to send all the ampoules thus filled to a welding station, generally using a burner.
As stated above, other drawbacks and difficulties appear in the use of these ampoules. In fact, most of them are shaped so as to be self-breakable, which in itself raises a number of difficulties, since the self-breakable portion must be sufficiently fragile while being sufficiently solid for the ampoule in particular to withstand its transport, filling, packaging, etc. It is also observed that the fracture zone is not always visible to the user, so that the latter sometimes experiences problems in breaking the end or ends of the ampoule.
To attempt to remedy these drawbacks, receptacles with a predefined dose have been proposed. These receptacles are in the form of a glass or plastic vial, having a generally cylindrical shape, having one closed end constituting the bottom and one open end, for filling the bottle and removing the liquid. This opening is closed by a seal, generally made from aluminium and equipped with a tab for pulling it out in order to release the opening. However, it appears that the removal of the seal, including with the tab, is very difficult, or even impossible, to do since the seal is hot-sealed. For this reason, it has been proposed to provide this type of receptacle with a straw in order to perforate the seal and draw out the product, thereby considerably reducing the applications and increasing the costs.
It is an object of the invention to remedy these drawbacks, simply, safety, effectively and efficiently.